For months there have been a few celebrities who have openly revealed in interviews they would love a role in the upcoming Warcraft film, to be directed by Sam Raimi. The first one was Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), and now an actress has done so. A few days ago, Michele Morrow revealed to Fangoria during their interview her interest in the Warcraft film. I reached her to learn more about her career, and her interest in games. I was surprised to hear she is a guild leader in World of Warcraft and currently tackling Saurfang Jr. in the Icecrown Citadel.

The actress is in love with the story and characteristics of Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, the leader of the Forsaken, and she admits she would love to earn the role in the upcoming Warcraft film. That’s not just words. Her agency, L.A. Management will back her up once auditions are called by the production.

Medievaldragon: Hi Michele, you have talked widely about your gaming life in some of your film interviews. Which games have you played?

Michele: I got an NES at age 10 and was the only kid on the block with one for a few months, so my roots are in Zelda, Mario, Tetris, Ghosts and Goblins consumed most of age 12.

Currently I play Bioshock, God of War (beat II but never played the original til now) and I’m stoked for both of the sequels due out this spring. I saw God of War III at E3 this year and it looks sick. I love Lumines on Xbox when I need that Tetris on drugs fix, and World of Warcraft.

Medievaldragon: When and How did you start playing World of Warcraft?

Michele: Crappy story actually a couple years back, I screwed up my neck in a stunt accident for this slasher movie called BASEMENT JACK. I jumped on an Air Ram it shot me up and out about 15 feet and I landed on my head. I’m VERY lucky to be recovered and not dead or paralyzed. I was in a neck brace for about a year. During that time I got a copy of The Burning Crusade.

Medievaldragon: A career as an actress is probably harder than other types of jobs like a normal 9am-5pm office work, or other freelance jobs. Your mind needs to be awake and alert, you need to read a lot and memorize your script lines. You need to go to the gym, eat healthy, stay fit, and train on whatever your role requires (horse riding, gun shooting, swords, etc.) lot of work. How do you manage your time between your acting career and leading a raiding guild?

Michele: HAH! Wow, someone is actually asking me that. Yes. I’ll tell you when I finally recovered from my injury, it wasn’t easy to pry away from, having to weave my normal life and work-out schedule back in. Its sorta hilarious how obsessed people get about this game. I mean, I even had dreams about the game. Although, that happened with Bioshock too. I guess that’s when you know a game is good. It seeps into your dreams. You’ll be at some dream supermarket buyin dream beer and a cartoon Orc will be behind the register saying: Ooooprah!, and im like WTF get out of my DREAM.

Medievaldragon: What have you liked the most about World of Warcraft through your level 1-80 experience?

Michele: I guess the thing I liked the most 1-80 as a new player, was how the game naturally unfolded for me. I liked the stories. In some ways it feels like reading an interactive book. It’s a pretty incredible experience for a first timer, make sure to play with some big headphones and just zone out for awhile. It can be a bit tedious for starting alts, but relaxing all the same, especially with lvl 80 raiding pressures.

However, at level 80, it’s a new game. I co-lead a raiding guild on Thorium Brotherhood – I know, RP server, but honestly its no different from a PvE server just don’t go to Silvermoon City at midnight dressed as a pirate and you’ll be alright. I have a toon on Mug’thol as well and very much enjoy PvP servers, I’m just glad I didn’t start out on one lol.

Medievaldragon: The other day you told me how much you love the lore behind Lady Sylvanas and Jaina Proudmoore. What do you enjoy out of all the lore diversity and rich characters in World of Warcraft?

Michele: I love Sylvanas and Jaina. I think I most enjoy the fact that Warcraft has very powerful female matriarchs. I mean, even Lord of the Rings. I grew up on that had very few important women. Most of them filled the stereotypical chick roles, love interests, healers, mothers. Galadriel is one of the few that really stands out for me. And the Narnia series, although rich with female characters, mostly don’t let women in battle.

But it has always been this way. Helen of Troy launched a battle only by being abducted and I think I remember something about the dude sacrificing his daughter to get sweet winds for his travel to save Helen. the whole sacrificing virgins thing lol. I realize that some people believe that true power comes through the female roles through healing and comfort and reflection. And, wisdom generally comes from old men with long beards. I don’t disagree with any of that, but it’s pretty awesome that Warcraft lore features female heroes and leaders who struggle with similar issues that the men do.

Women fall too like Azshara – and not because they were being slutbags, or because they were virgins, or because they were kidnapped. They fail because they are flawed. Or they teach because they know how to lead. Sylvanas has the coolest story for me, hands down death by Frostmourne, mutilated and tortured, used against her own people, only to regain her free-will and build the Forsaken with the sole purpose of hunting down Arthas. I love her grit, her courage and her potential of fallacy. But Jaina is pretty rad too. She’s a gifted mage, a major leader, and big advocate for peace. Not only that, but she was engaged to Arthas so that’s crazy.

Medievaldragon: Do you think stories such as these should be engaged by film directors more often?

Michele: Absolutely they’re why I became an actress. I grew up in a neighborhood called Camelot where all the streets were named after the knights of the round table, we lived on King Arthur Drive. Everything seemed so lofty and magical when I was a kid. I loved Star Wars, The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal movies were imagination land. They were an escape from real life. I think the only reason these movies don’t get made as much it’s because it’s a lot of money to make big epic features. I’m pretty sure each one of The Lord of the Rings & Harry Potters cost about $100 million to make. They did make an insane amount of money in return, but I’m sure it’s hard to get people to fork over that kind of cash.

Medievaldragon: Have you seen a lack of films based on fantasy worlds beyond Lord of the Rings from 2000-2010?

Michele: Well, the Narnias, Harry Potters probably can all be categorized as the like. I think we saw a lot of comic book movies that cross-promoted the fantasy demographic.

Medievaldragon: Your previous film roles are focused mostly in the Terror genre, have you considered other genres or have you been invited to play roles in those?

Michele: I’ve done comedies and drama, but horror is certainly the genre I’ve worked the most in. I’m open to any genre that has a strong story attached. It’s all about the story.

Medievaldragon: Why do you wish the role of Lady Sylvanas Windrunner in the Warcraft film?

Michele: To be honest, I’d be happy to play any of the characters in the movie. But, Sylvanas, I love her because she’s determined. She’s insidious. She’s arrogant and spiteful, but you can’t really blame her. She’s very tortured. http://www.wowwiki.com/File:Sylvanas.jpg I love this imagination of her. She truly takes her own council.

Medievaldragon: Have you played Warcraft III or have you read its facsimile World of Warcraft: Arthas, Rise of the Lich King? That’s where her story as a cunning and stubborn High Elf Ranger and all the drama with Arthas as her biggest nemesis starts at. What about her rich past did catch your attention the most?

Michele: She’s really effing brave. And she’s been through hell. To be honest, its not far off from many of the horror movie roles I’ve played. Karen Cook in Basement Jack is a lot like her. At 18 years old she finds her entire family slaughtered, posed around the dining room table, tied to glasses and silverware, with the dog as the main course. It’s a horrific thing to imagine. She has an epic battle in the basement with the killer and narrowly escapes. 11 years later she has sharpened her combat skills, and he gets let out of a mental institution. Now she’s hunting him – and he’s happy to kill her. She’s sorta on another level you are able to see her as a tragic hero, it kinda takes gender away, it’s past that, if that makes sense. You can see her mind working, always thinking, always one step ahead. She’s smart and beautiful and tragic and courageous all at once.

Medievaldragon: What new things have you learned about Lady Sylvanas in your raid advancement through Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, the Halls of Reflections and Icecrown Citadel that you feel have allowed you to learn this character inside and out?

Michele: Mostly I really dislike her voice over lol. I have an alliance toon and get to see Jaina do something similar so its not super unique enough to learn anything more than I already did from the 5 mans. But it is cool to see the story progress. Besides, I’m mostly only thinking about the 10,000g I can make from that Battered Hilt drop to pay any attention lol.

Medievaldragon: What do you think about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm?

Michele: You know, I’m sure however all the details will undoubtedly change, it’ll be cool. This MMO is more popular than any other of all time, I think the guys at Blizzard know what they’re doing. I have a high amount of faith in their imaginations based on what they’ve produced so far.

Medievaldragon: If you were a WoW developer, what would you do to further enrich the world of Azeroth and the player’s gameplay? (story, features or fixes)

Michele: ALTERAC VALLEY! HELP!! People do not know how to play. Period. They just run to the group and fight in the road and make me want to tear out all my hair. Has anyone noticed that AV Chat has become like Trade Chat but with more insults? Which is awesome and annoying all at once.

Mmmaybe in CATACLYSM, the earth shakes up Alterac Valley and the battleground gets a facelift. Maybe even do some sort of strat guide or in-game tutorial for people when they queue for the first time. Redesign the map because its not clear enough for new players, they’re all like "Towers? Bunkers? Cap what? Who’s Bal?" — except they don’t ask for fear of ridicule lol. Because regardless of the infinite resources they could find online by simply minimizing their screen, they won’t lol. The double honor thing for defending is a start, but you really do miss out on a lot of action. Maybe they can up that reward to encourage better game play. The other Battlegrounds are much smaller and easier to catch on to, there’s just too much going on in AV for the legions of noobs.

Medievaldragon: Which recent and upcoming films or TV projects fans can find you working on?

Michele: I have a film in the summer shooting in Tennessee, its currently untitled but revolves around a meth addict. I’ll be starring next to Katrena Rochell from the upcoming Kickass. I’m also producing a reality show about a big cat rescue facility called Cat Tales Rescue with my childhood best friend, Jan-Michael Gambill who is a professional tennis and another wow player. Pilot season is coming up as well, so anything can happen. I recently heard Spidey got pushed back too, so maybe Warcraft?!?!? fingers crossed

Medievaldragon: Which have been your biggest achievements both in your persona life and in your career?

Michele: My biggest achievement has yet to surface in my career, I am sure. But so far, personally I’m proud of my recovery from my neck injury, that I didn’t let it stop me. It’s so easy to quit, and I’ll tell you, I did get close to giving everything up. I gained 25 pounds, I lost two movie roles, and fairweather friends certainly slunk into the shadows. When you hit the bottom, you can either sulk there forever or pick yourself up. Determination can do a lot for a person.

Medievaldragon: I listened to your Voice Over Reel. Awesome. Have you done voice over for games or would consider proposals for them?

Michele: Thank you Besides my demo, I also did a voice over for G4’s X-Play. I would love to do voices for games! That would be so stupidly fun.

Medievaldragon: Thanks, It was great having you, Michele. Hope you get the role of Sylvanas in the Warcraft film. What do you think guys?

I posted over at Worldofwar.net an interesting speculation article that might be of interest to WoW fans. The internet is abuzz with the delay of Spider-man 4’s production. I speculate Sam Raimi might decide to commence work on the Warcraft film while the Spider-man 4 script woes are resolved.

The Deadline Hollywood news site reports Sam Raimi is not happy with the Spider-man 4 script and the villains line-up. This potentially causes a major delay and postponement of its filming production — meant to have taken place in a few weeks. Thus the Spider-man 4 film won’t be ready for its May 5, 2011 release date.

A script started from scratch could take a year or more, not even considering if it is again rejected then and needs to be taken back to the drawing board till it is right and liked by the director. Could this be a good sign for the Warcraft film to take priority over Spider-man 4? Read my full article here.

The Post-Gazette interviewed Paul Sams concerning the recent news that he is one of the co-owners of the Pittsburgh’s NFL team The Steelers. He confirmed his friendship with Thomas Tull (Legendary Pictures CEO), who is also a new co-owner and shareholder of The Steelers. At the end of the interview, the Post-Gazette pitched a question to find out the current status of the Warcraft Film.

For now it is in pre-production stage, putting the script together, while Sam Raimi works on Spider-Man 4.

Blizzard Quote:

Post-Gazette: When is the “World of Warcraft” movie coming out?

Paul Sams: Sam Raimi has been attached as the director. We’re working really hard with Legendary [Pictures] and Sam—he has “Spider-Man 4” first, then he’ll move to this project. We’re in the process of developing the scripts.

Gamespy cornered Chris Metzen to ask a few questions about the Warcraft Movie now that Sam Raimi is known worldwide to be the official director of the film. The answers are very interesting. I really enjoy listening to Chris Metzen—hey buddy! —love his worlds. Can’t wait to meet him again, and do another lore interview. It feels like just a few days since our last interview. (laughs, wink, wink, notch, notch)

Blizzard Quote:

GameSpy: What most excites you about co-producing the movie?

Chris Metzen: The thing that would excite me most is just that it translates boldly. That it feels like a fan experience, and that a couple years from now, you sit down in a theater and you’re like, “They did it. They got it. That feels genuine.” It may not be about your Level 12 Night Elf Hunter, specifically, but all the familiarity—the locales, the places, the characters, the storylines—it all feels contiguous and one-to-one with your expectations. That’s my great hope.

IGN writer Eric Goldman was at the San Diego Comic Con 2009 today, and found no other than … Bruce Campbell … at the event, promoting his Burn Notice series. IGN took the opportunity to ask what would be his role in the upcoming WARCRAFT MOVIE now that Sam Raimi is officially announced to be the director of the film. To this Bruce Campbell denied he knew anything about his childhood old-friend’s role in the WARCRAFT MOVIE, until the day it was announced.

“I’ll get a call.” What did he expect Raimi will tell him when that call comes? Raimi imagined his old friend will tell him, “You play some schmuck. Some idiot guy. Some garbage man.”

Ya’know, back in the day, my grandma had a lot of sayings from the old guard (1930s-70s). I don’t remember any that applies here, out of the tip of my mind, but I ain’t buying it. He might not have stellar roles in some of the movies, but they were fun as heck. Tell me a single person that—even if they didn’t know who Bruce Campbell is—didn’t enjoy Jack of All Trades in Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess [for example]. I LOVED IT. It was many years later that I realized Bruce was the same guy that played in Evil Dead: Army of Darkness. That was a movie I watched around age 20 back on 1992. I enjoyed watching movies with my family every week. Army of Darkness was among my favorites, and enjoyed his role there.

Anyway, either he knows and denied, or he really didn’t know Raimi would be involved in the project. However, if we read what Gary Whitta said recently, Raimi knew about it for a while as he was who approached Blizzard showing interest in the film. When someone like Raimi has interest in something, how wouldn’t you call your best friend to tell him, and to see if you are free to play a role? Come on !!!

In short, I have a feeling Bruce Campbell is playing a big role. Chris Metzen is involved in the WARCRAFT FILM, and I know he will pick a role for the actor. Metzen jokingly talked to Kotaku at the San Diego Comic Con today about Bruce Campbell. A sign the actor may have heard already, and denied it.

Ok, that made a few fans laugh out loud. Any role would suit the actor, but I don’t doubt he would play a big role: King Varian, Bolvar Fordraagon, Malfurion, Medivh, Thrall … you name it. What role do you think Bruce Campbell could play in this film? Let’s hear your thoughts and creativity.

A few years ago, I spread through the net the Diablo Film was listed at the Under Development section of the Legendary Pictures website. It was removed from the list within 24-hours after it went all around the world. I remember looking around the net for clues, and I remember Gary Whitta appeared in my radar as writer of the script. Also as been involved in the Warcraft movie script. I think he also had a Starcraft story in his website. Suddenly, his website disappeared, with all trace and evidence.

I didn’t save anything of what I found on his website nor took pictures—to my shame, and he redirected the domain name to his blog. I contacted him, shortly after and he never replied. He is been hidden in some underground fallout bunker—a la Blast From The Past—because I rarely managed to find any comments linking him to the Warcraft or Diablo film, except for his Death, Jr. Series. His blog hasn’t been updated since July 29, 2007.

Today, Gary Whitta incredibly made a statement about his involvement in the WARCRAFT FILM’s script, which is now void with the introduction of Sam Raimi to the project. Really gives me a headache to think, I didn’t download anything of what I found on his website back then. The guy literally disappeared after the whole Diablo Film buzz, until now. Read below his statement.

Gary Whitta: I had actually been working on this for the past two years. Had to keep it under wraps at the time but it doesn’t really matter now.

I worked very closely with Legendary and Blizzard to come up with a screenplay that distilled the sprawling Warcraft mythology into a narrative that was easily accessible to the non-player, and everyone was really pleased with the results – I personally thought my last draft of the script in particular was really kick-ass and did a good job of introducing the Warcraft world to non-players while also satisfying hardcore players who knew every nook and cranny of the universe. When Sam expressed interest in the property, however, he had his own pretty specific vision of what he wanted to do story-wise so that’s the version they’re now pursuing. I’m no longer involved but I wish them all the best with it; so far as I’m concerned Raimi is the best possible director for this.

Blizzard Entertainment and the Legendary Pictures executives have been too strict and cryptic about revealing the Warcraft Film’s Director, writer and cast. Rumors went around a few years ago that the writer was Gary Whitta, but it has not been confirmed. On 2005, Blizzard and Legendary revealed one concept art from the Warcraft film ideas. It was an image of Teldrassil seen from a Darkshore perspective.

Chris Metzen said at the same event there were plans for an Alliance character, an anti-Thrall. Obviously, this was in reference to King Varian Wrynn, who was still missing at that point until he debuted in the comic book, unveiled in July 2007 at the San Diego Comic Con. Brandon Routhe (Superman) showed interest in working on the Warcraft Film. He plays World of Warcraft. Will Routhe play as King Varian? Hmm. The latest update on this Warcraft Film was reported by Ancilorn on the official wow-europe forums:

The Writers Guild of America, Hollywood writers union and Screen Actors Guild claim that Film studios aren’t fulfilling their agreement after the strike held a year ago. The writers and actors want to be paid royalties for internet reruns on Films made after 1971 and TV shows made after 1977 as the agreement stipulated. The film studios want to pay royalties for internet reruns for films and shows made after February 13, 2008.

There is obviously a great deal of problems ahead of the industry if this dispute is not settled. If a new strike is held, this could potentially affect the development of the World of Warcraft film … yet again. As of two weeks ago, Frank Pearce revealed a screenwriter and a director have not been appointed by Legendary Pictures to date. This process would gain further delays if the strike becomes reality in upcoming weeks.—Read more.

The two unions appear to be reading from the same script with an eye to disrupting the upcoming Hollywood awards season, much as last year

Blizzard COO Paul Sams told Guardian during an interview with Greg Howson (Guardian.co.uk) that a director has not been decided yet, but two producers are now onboard.

How’s the movie going?

Paul Sams: We’re in the second or third draft at the moment. We’re interviewing directors and have added two of the producers of the Dark Knight as well. They are onboard. I’m so excited about that. The directors we have spoken to have put forward their ideas and we’re making progress. We’re as confident as ever in Legendary Pictures as they did a great job on the Dark Knight. Will we make 2009? Time is tight and things would have to go really right for that to happen. I wouldn’t rule 2009 out but like our games we only want to release when are happy. I don’t think it’s too far away though.

WCRadio put up the video of the Legendary Pictures Panel held at Blizzcon 2007, where Chris Metzen, Paul Sams and Thomas Tull (Legendary Pictures Chairman) discussed details of the Film with fans. The video lasts 43 minutes, and it is very amusing, humorous and informative. At the end you will see a concept art that shows Teldrassil. If that is a hint of things to see, we will probably see Darnassus city and of course Tyrande Whisperwind.

It will be a live action film portraying a war conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. The timeframe is set to a year before the events of the MMORPG. The main character will be a new heroe described to be kick-ass Human. Most of the story is told from the point of view of the Alliance, but there will be Horde elements with Thrall making it to the big screen. Thomas Tull hinted they want to make the first film a masterpiece that will make fans be excited of seeing what we we see everyday in the MMO come to live—and by saying “first film” basically let the cat out that they envision more films based on World of Warcraft.